On the other side, plaintiffs' attorney Dan Canon said he's pleased with the judge's order—even if, unlike other states, an immediate stay was issued preventing same-sex couples from immediately being allowed to marry.

"We’re optimistic that same-sex couples will in the very near future be able to get marriage licenses in Kentucky," Canon told WFPL on Tuesday afternoon.

The state’s attempts to connect the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage to its interest in economic stability and in “ensuring humanity’s continued existence” are at best illogical and even bewildering.

“I think that the overall effect of both Kentucky opinions is that it lays to rest any notion that there’s any sort of rational basis for the legislative scheme that the Commonwealth of Kentucky has come up with to keep same-sex couples from getting married," Canon said.

In a statement, Beshear said the state will appeal "so that the matter is fully before the Sixth Circuit, where these same issues from other states are already scheduled to be decided by the Sixth Circuit.”

Canon said he doesn't expect this case to be consolidated with the other same-sex marriage cases before the appeals court, because those cases have been briefed and are set to have oral arguments in August.

In a news conference live-streamed by The Courier-Journal, one of the plaintiffs, Timothy Love, said he's confident the final outcome of the court proceedings will allow for same-sex marriage in Kentucky.

Earlier: Kentucky's laws banning same-sex couples from being married in the state are unconstitutional, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday.

Senior U.S. District Judge John Heyburn's order strikes down Kentucky's same-sex marriage ban, but he also issued a stay pending an order from a federal appeals court. So Kentucky same-sex couples will have no period where they'll be able to be married in the state, as happened last week in Indiana.